KOREA.
THIS is a mountainous peninsula traversed by a range which lies
nearer the east than the west coast. The rainfall oceurs in summer, and
;s heavy on the eastern slopes of the mountains, which are densely clad
with forests. The most fertile areas lie near the west coast, where rice,
millet, beans, hemp, cotton, and ginseng, are cultivated. A good deal of
gold is mined in the north.
Wild-fowl abound in the coastal distriets, and the seas are rich in
fish; but violent high-tides render navigation difficult along the west
zoast, and the only good eastern port is Fusan. "This is now connected.
with the port of Chemulpo on the west by a railway, which passes through
Seoul, the capital of the country. The river on which Seoul stands is
navigable with difficulty to that point.
Korea, though nominally independent since the Chinese-Japanese
war, is practically under Japanese influence, and many Japanese have
settled. there in recent times. The chief exports in order of value
are : Pulses, ginseng, rice, and hides.
QUESTIONS ON PERSIA AND CENTRAL ASIA,
l. By a recent treaty the Russian sphere of enterprise in Persia lies north of a line
drawn from the mecting-place of the frontiers of Afghanistan, Turkistan and
Persia to Yezd, and on near Ispahan and Kermanshah to the western
frontier. The British sphere lies south-east of a line through Bender Abbas,
Kerman, and Birjand, and the rest of the country is neutral. Compare the
pol.tical and economic value of these areas (see map in the “ Statesman’s
Year Book,” 1908).
2. Compare and contrast life in the deserts of Arabia, Mongolia, and the Tundra.
3. Give an account of Afghanistan, and explain the extent to which it may be
regarded as a Buffer State.
4. What facts have lcd to the suggestion that a change of climate has taken place
in the Tarim basin dı ring historie times ?
3. What minerals of economic value are often found in arid regions ?
CHINA.
THIS is a very compact mass of land of roughly circular shape, which
protrudes into the Pacific on the cast, and ascends on the north and west
to the plateaux of Mongolia’and Tibet. From the latter it is, to a large
extent, cut off by a series of ranges and deep gorges running nc... and
south : but the exposed nature of the northern frontier led to the con-
